“It has only been three months,” said Harry Birdwell, OSU vice president for business and external relations. “Those of us who are working with the families know how much they are hurting. The wounds are still fresh.
“These are 10 young men whose lives ended too soon.”
To honor the fallen Cowboys, Birdwell said university officials are close to finalizing designs for two separate memorials.
“We are planning on building two memorials,” he said. “One will be at the crash site, and another will be at Gallagher-Iba Arena.”
The first memorial, which will be on land donated by the crash site’s owner, is planned for completion by the end of the summer.
“We would like to have a 50-foot-square piece of land adjacent to the road (near the crash site) where we will put a memorial,” OSU President James Halligan said in an Associated Press report. “We are hoping while it is still warm in Colorado, we can complete the design and construction of the memorial.”
A memorial in Gallagher-Iba Arena, which Birdwell said would be “more elaborate,” is planned for dedication during the 2002 basketball season. The two memorials, which will be designed by Gallagher-Iba architect Gary Sparks, will share a common focal point.
“We are working very carefully to get something designed that reflects the lives of the 10 men and will be a dignified part of our institution’s history,” Birdwell said.
Birdwell said the university has been working with families for input on the memorials and will seek approval from each family on a final design.
“Until we get approval from all the families of the victims, we are not putting anything formal out,” he said. “We should have a design finalized in the next two weeks.”
Birdwell said costs have not been finalized on the project, but said donations to the OSU Foundation have been in excess of $150,000.
Wayne King, OSU Foundation senior vice president for development, said that even though the university has not actively raised funds for the memorials, gift-giving continues at a brisk rate.
“There have been hundreds of individuals, corporations and foundations that have made donations,” King said. “The Oklahoma City Blazers raised more than $70,000.”
The 10 fallen Cowboys are Nate Fleming and Daniel Lawson, OSU basketball players; Jared Weiberg, graduate assistant coach; Will Hancock, sports information employee; Pat Noyes, director of basketball operations; Brian Luinstra, trainer; Kendall Durfey, broadcast engineer; Bill Teegins, broadcaster; and Denver Mills and Bjorn Fahlstrom, pilots.
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